Ed Brown

Home
Ed Brown

Ed Brown

Bass & Vocals

Started Playing

Music was in the blood. One night a week, every week, the family basement would be a thunder with the sounds of "The Emerald Gospel Singers." A product, compliments of the old man—father, William. At this time Ed was in his pre-teen years—very impressionable and very much taken by the "BASS." At age nine, Ed was convinced that the bass was the instrument he wanted to play. His father played the guitar, the oldest brother, William picked up the drums, the youngest sister (at the time) Angela, started to sing lead, the youngest brother, Daniel, also picked up the guitar and before you knew it, the family even joined by Mom, Patsy, was out singing and playing as "The Souls Of Unity" gospel singers.

The Souls of Unity grew apart and around that time, Ed was attending college in Landover, MD where he met Stanley Jones (who is now the keyboardist for the likes of Johnny Gill and Toni Braxton). Stanley was a member in the band "A New Beginning." After seeing this band a few times and hangin' out with Stan, Ed knew he had to start a band of his own. Kharisma (pronounced the same as the word charisma).

My First Band

Kharisma consisted of Cass Marion on percussion's, Rod "Sad Boy" Gray on drums, Don Bailey on keyboards (who caught on to the computer revolution early and is probably working with Bill Gates), Ronnie Douglas on guitar, Ed Brown on bass, and on their first gig the recruitment of Bonnie Sparks (at that time Taylor). Kharisma had the pleasure of being the back up band for Al Green and did the music tracks for the Sweet Sundae album before their disbursement after the constant change of musicians yielded a substandard band. While Kharisma was on its last legs, a fellow bass player friend, Steven Brown (no relation), told Ed that he was leaving the group he was in and moving to California (with Stan Jones to follow later) and would put in a good word for him. Ed showed up at the audition, and yes, he got the gig, "DUH!"

The Dream: My First Professional Band

First stop, Toronto, Canada; then, Ontario, Canada; then the Atlantic City’s Trump's Casinos. These were to be only a few of the scenery changes with Tough Act To Follow band. The talent in TATF was William R. Ware on keyboards, Mansfield Clement on drums, Ro Cube' on keys and guitar, Debra Raba on percussion, Cocoa on lead vocals (who is now doing a Vegas Revue, thank you very much) and of course, Ed Brown on Bass. Tough Act To Follow was truly the toast of the Casino night life.

A Turning Point

After TATF, Ed answered a newspaper ad for a bass player and met Sam Salamy. Sam was the first writer Ed worked with and performed in a number of studio sessions and collaborations. Sam and Ed worked together so well, they branched off from their group Destiny, and formed the duo group Salamy & Brown.

As time went on, Ed began to write and record his own music and performed all vocals and instrumentation for the exception of the guitar which features Sam Salamy.

The Dream Returns!

In December, 2006, while Ed was preparing for a Tough Act To Follow reunion, he received an email that Diamond Alley was looking for a bass player. He contacted Doug Macuch (DA drummer/manager) and set up an audition. It was a very satisfying experience. And it was made clear that the job was mine if I wanted it. Well, here I am!